It’s not true spring without a geranium plant on your balcony!

This plant is famous for its colorful flowers, rounded leaves, and the wonderful effect they create when we put them in pots with railings.

We usually buy it in spring already in bloom. Sometimes, however, we have geranium plants from last year that, despite this season’s own rise in temperatures, do not bloom. Thus, we end up settling for seedlings full of leaves but without flowers.

Actually, there are some tricks that can help us stimulate the flowering of the geranium, making the plant produce new buds and fill with color! Let’s discover them together.

Use the right fertilizer

Plants, just like humans, need a good supply of nutrients to stay in shape and… flourish!

Sometimes, in the midst of an infinite number of products, choosing the right one becomes difficult. Choose a fertilizer for flowering plants or specifically for geraniums: these are usually enriched with iron, a substance that stimulates flowering.

Administer according to production instructions. Usually, fertilizer is liquid and must be diluted in water for irrigation. Then, it should be given every 2-3 weeks.

Among the natural solutions, compost can be prepared with fruit peels and dried leaves, placing them in the soil: these elements release nitrogen and potassium that help the geranium grow and give it a certain amount of energy.

Warning: If you’re having trouble growing this plant, ask a professional for advice.

Pruning dead branches

Usually, by the end of winter, the geranium will have developed some long, woody branches that grow during the cold season.

Pruning the plant, removing branches that are too long, dry and asymmetrical, stimulates the plant to generate new branches that are more fertile and ready to flower as soon as the temperature rises.

Do this with well-sterilized scissors and trying to give a symmetrical, balanced and compact shape to the entire plant.

Keep branches and leaves clean

It may seem strange or superfluous to you, but keeping the branches and leaves of the Geranium clean helps the plant maintain a good overall state of health and consequently increases the chances of flowering.

For cleaning, use a mixture of water (about 500ml) and Marseille soap (about 30 grams flakes), mixing the different ingredients and then running it all over the foliage of the plant with the help of a cotton ball.

This trick will remove the dust that settles on the leaves, facilitating the process of photosynthesis and respiration. In addition, it will help prevent potential pest infestations, such as mealybug and aphid.

Choose the right exposure

That’s it! Many can’t get the geranium seedling to bloom for a reason as simple as it is important: improper exposure!

Immediately place the geranium in a very bright place. Light needs vary by species and variety: zonal and imperial geraniums, for example, don’t particularly like direct light, but they still need bright indirect sunlight.

To make no mistake, whatever type of geranium you have on your balcony, therefore, place it in a place with indirect sunlight, especially in the bud development phase.

Light is essential not only for it to start flowering, but also for it to last for a long time – seeing is believing!